1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a spherical article conveying atmosphere replacing device which is used when spherical articles such as spherical semiconductor chips are conveyed through different atmospheres.
2. Description of the Related Art
Hitherto, semiconductor apparatuses have been manufactured by a method having the steps of forming a circuit pattern on a silicon wafer and dicing the silicon wafer as required so that semiconductor chips are formed. Under the above-mentioned circumstance, a technology has been suggested with which a circuit pattern is formed on a spherical semiconductor (a ball semiconductor) made of single crystal silicon.
When, for example, spherical single crystal silicon is employed to form discrete devices, such as solar cells or optical sensors, or semiconductor integrated circuits, a variety of processes must be performed which consist of processes for mirror-polishing and cleaning the spherical single crystal silicon, a process for forming a thin film, a process for coating resist, a photolithography process, an etching process and the like. In order to efficiently manufacture the spherical semiconductor devices, the various processes and conveying processes must be connected to one another so as to form a system line.
In the above-mentioned manufacturing system line, in addition to gases, such as active gases and inert gases, each process is performed in a variety of atmospheres including fluids such as water and various solutions. When the processes are connected to one another to form a manufacturing line, introduction of the atmosphere for conveying spherical articles from the previous process into the following process must be prevented. That is, removal of the atmosphere of the previous process from the spherical articles is required between the processes. Then, the atmosphere must be converted into an atmosphere suitable for the following process when the spherical articles are conveyed. Moreover, the above-mentioned process requires high speed and satisfactory reliability to improve the productivity and the quality.
The present Applicant has disclosed a device which, while preventing the leakage of the atmosphere between a process into the following process, processes and conveys a spherical article at high speed. More specifically, he has disclosed a spherical article atmosphere replacing device in which, while conveying spherical articles in a rotation mode which are accommodated in a accommodating chamber around a rotary receiver, changes the atmosphere in the accommodating chamber sequentially.
However, in the atmosphere replacing device with a rotor such as the aforementioned rotary receiver, in order to introduce spherical articles into the accommodating chambers of the rotor or to discharge them therefrom, the timing of introducing or discharging a spherical article must be synchronous with the rotation of the aforementioned rotor. For this purpose, it is necessary to confirm the position of the spherical article with a sensor, thereby to control the operation of the device. Therefore, the device suffers from the difficulty that it must be provided with an intricate control mechanism.
At the inlet and the outlet of the aforementioned accommodating chamber, the seal member which is provided to completely block the atmosphere is liable to form fine particles.
Furthermore, in order to prevent spherical articles from being damaged by friction and toe convey them with high efficiency, in the accommodating chamber it is necessary to provide a purge to float the spherical articles. Accordingly, the rotor is intricate in configuration.